My August filled up with many other things besides wargaming, but I did have one free weekend, and was able to pack four games into it. These two were against Trevor, friend, forum-goer, and the blogger behind Data and Dice. He’s been kicking around a playstyle idea for a bit, and we decided to test it out.
He discusses his thinking in depth on his own recent blog post, and that is worth checking out for some additional insight. Summarizing the history and the thinking here, he likes Penitents, as they are dirt cheap while still providing surprising utility on the battlefield by just taking up space and threatening spiky rolls with their innate Crushing Strength. For the playstyle idea, he likens it to Goblins, with lots of large and expendable units, supported by a few characters and a battery of war engines. He brought the following for the first list:
I ran the list above, drawing inspiration from the Interstate Doubles games. How my partner played his Abyssals is not how I typically approached the army. So this is my take on some of his thinking, to try and understand his approach better. Up to test are:
- Lower Abyssals with CS and Brew of Sharpness. My partner ran a horde and the Brew with BC support. Knowing Penitents were coming, I opted not to run my usual ASB, and just see what a brawling, regenerating unit could do.
- Succubi with and without Lurker (Pathfinder). My partner in the tournament had kitted his out with both Lurkers and magic items. They delivered, but I think if you toss 50+ points of upgrades on something it probably will do some good work regardless of the situation? I hobbied up two more regiments of Succubi recently. I need a baseline, so two are stock, though gave one the Lurker upgrade for a comparison. We’ll test out as much as we can while we have the chance.
- Abyssal Ghouls. Their debut! At least on my side of the table, since we just saw them recently across the table. They are a relative cheap unlock, and while they don’t hit hard, they should provide some decent holding power to sneak around and grab tokens and play the scenarios. We’ll see what trouble they can do.
- Imps. I had the points, so fit in the Imps as well. It’s been a long while since they hit the table. Again, these are more for blocking charges and playing the scenario than anything else.
- Chroneas. These have been wonderful monsters, and all-stars in my lists. They provide lots of utility to a list with high CS, Cloak of Death, and heals, and Fearless means your opponent really needs to commit to taking them off.
- Abyssal Fiend. The titanic Fiend also provides some great utility, with Inspiring, a Fireball and decent combat stats.
- Abyssal Warlock. I have liked the Warlock, but Drain Life was underwhelming at the tournament for me… because I didn’t see that the spell had Piercing 1. We’re taking two this time, and giving them a more proper showing.
The Abyssals are bit spoiled for scoring supporting pieces, so I committed to those here so that the Brothermark would have good shooting targets for the first game. Stock Succubi vs Penitents would be an interesting match-up as well, and should give me an ok baseline for evaluating the unit on my own terms. Interesting as well, while my opponent had a significant drop advantage, I had the edge in Unit Strength, essentially due to all of my scoring support pieces.
Table and Terrain
My opponent was graciously hosting us, and we utilized his table and terrain, using our typical terrain rules, running the buildings as Height 9 blocking terrain, the forests as Height 6 Difficult Terrain, fences as Height 2 Obstacles, and Hills as Height 3, and the field as Height 0.
We felt the scenario should favor the Brothermark approach of filling the board with Penitents. After all, if I can’t secure my tokens, I can’t claim them! Given the scenario and all the shooting and bodies opposing me, I felt I needed to be quick to have a chance here. I won the roll for sides, liked where I was, and we got down to deployment.
 |
| Deployment for the Brothermark. |
Left to right, the Brothermark had a Siege Artillery piece in the corner. A horde of Penitents supported by the mounted Examplar Hunter and Phoenix and Chaplain, with a regiment of Penitents, Arbalest, and more Penitents. The Center had a regiment of Penitents, Arbalest with their leader point just in the woods to see, the Bowmen, the Exemplar Paladin on foot, and another Penitent regiment. The right contingent had two hordes of Penitents and the third Arbalest, with High Chaplain Augustus and two Phoenixes to support. Lastly, the final two Siege Artillery pieces sat in this corner.
Being me, I took a lot of duplicate picks to try and maximize my testing opportunities. Given the scenario and the shooting, I decided to split my forces and ignore the center. I felt that I needed to push up and win some decisive fights first, hopefully trounce some war machines, and then see what I could cobble together at the end of the game.
 |
| Deployment on the left. |
On the left I had Tortured Souls, the Chroneas, Fiend, Succubi and Gargoyles in reserve. The Warlock, Pathfinding Succubi and Imps held the woods.
 |
| Deployment on the right. |
The center was empty. On the right, protected a bit by the building and the hill was a front line of Succubi, Fiend, Tortured Souls and Chroneas, with the Warlock to further support. This contingent had a reserve of Gargoyles, Abyssal Ghouls, and the horde of Lower Abyssals.
Top of Round 1: Brothermark
After some consideration, the Brothermark generally moved up to make sure they were holding most of my tokens immediately.
 |
| The Brothermark starts to stake their claims. |
The contingent on the left moves up, with one regiment handing back to preserve a shot for the Arbalest.
 |
| The Fiend is felled. |
The same happens in the center, with some Penitants holding back while the Bowmen and some other Penitents started making their way out of the woods.
With two hordes, the right of the Brothermark line is pretty solid. They chose to stay put to let the Arbalest shoot. The obstacle there is a bit of a bother, but shouldn't matter as long as the machine is targeting some towering monsters.
On the right, the Arbalest lands 1 into the Fiend, with the Siege Artillery both landing hits as well. The Fiend is brought to 8, and with a 10 and a 10 on the Nerve checks, the Fiend is the first casualty of the game!
 |
| End of the Brothermark's opening turn. |
On the left, the Siege Artillery misses against the Tortured Souls, and both Arbalests miss when shooting at the Imps, who have cover from the woods. The Bowmen have moved, but gotten their leader point out of the woods. They shoot at the Imps on "7's", and manage 1 damage.
Bottom of Round 1: Abyssals
With one Fiend down already, I try and move quickly. Out on the right, the Tortured Souls move up quickly, while avoiding charges from the Penitents. The Chroneas advances as well, along with the Warlock, to make sure she stays Inspired.
 |
| Aggressive, but safe. |
The Succubi here move up, but end short of the hill to the Penitents near the Bowmen can't see or charge them. The Ghouls, Lower Abyssals and Gargoyles move up as well.
Out on the left, I move up a bit more aggressively. The Imps leave the woods, trying to use the building to block line of sight. The Pathfinding Succubi zip up around 11 inches, threatening a charge into the Penitent Regiment, while being safe themselves. The non-pathfinding unit of Succubi moves similarly. They cannot see over the hill, but should have a charge into the Penitent regiment as well.
 |
| The Abyssals are very aggressive on the right. |
The Tortured Souls move up, threatening a charge into the Horde, along with the Chroneas (who has Strider and can charge over the obstacle, and the Fiend, who would be going over the hill.
The Warlock just moves his speed, and lands 1 Firebolt into the threatened Penitent regiment.
Top of Round 2: Brothermark
On the left, the Penitents are healed with magic, and the line shuffles to the side. They don't have the inches to back up and escape, so shuffle to preserve a firing line for the Arbalest. I believe the Siege Artillery missed, but the Phoenix and Arbalest land 4 damage onto the Chroneas.
Centrally, the Arbalest repositions, and will be unable to shoot. The Bowmen continue to advance, and land 2 more damage onto the Imps, who are then wavered. The Penitents take the hill, and are out of charge arc of the nearby Succubi unit.
On the right, the Arbalest lands 1 on this Chroneas, but both Siege Artillery miss. The Phoenixes opt to shoot into the Tortured Souls, landing 4 damage, but the phantoms hold.
Bottom of Round 2: Abyssals
With a lighter round of shooting, the Abyssals make it into combat. Out on the right, we triple charge the Penitents on the right with the Chroneas, Tortured souls and Succubi. The Warlock casts Drain Life, healing the Chroneas for 1 damage. The Gargoyles fly up to protect the flank of the Succubi for this fight.
 |
| Charges on the right. |
The Ghouls and Lower Abyssals can move and pivot to get out of charge arc of the Penitents on the hill, and so we do so.
 |
| Victory on the right. |
I didn't track all the damage here, but it ends up being enough to pick the horde up. The Chroneas will change facing, looking to help out with the fighting rather than go off and try to fight the Siege Artillery. The Tortured Souls got healed from the Chroneas, but I forgot about Lifeleech. They overrun, looking to entangle things here. The victorious Succubi just change facing.
 |
| Charges on the left. |
The Abyssals go in on the left as well. The Gargoyles fly up to threaten a charge into the war machine next turn, while the Tortured Souls, Chroneas and Field go into the Penitent Horde. Cloak of Death hits them for 1, and we deal 13 combat damage or thereabouts, but the horde sticks around.
Some Succubi charge into the Penitent regiment. They took 1 from Cloak, took 11 in combat, and are bested. They victoriously back off, to get the Penitent horde into arc.
 |
| Partial victory on the left. The Chroneas is on 5 damage, my notes may have missed something hitting. |
The Pathfinding Succubi charge in against a different Penitent Regiment, who were hiding in a field. Pathfinder helps out, and the ladies deal 10 damage here, and are able to pick the unit up. They victoriously turn to face the other nearby Penitent regiment.
Top of Round 3: Brothermark
On the right, the Phoenix sidesteps to block line of sight from the Tortured Souls to the war machines. That was a slick move. Meanwhile Augustus charges them, hoping to just take them off. Two damage is done, but the Souls Stick around.
 |
| Charges for the Brothermark on the right. |
The Penitent Horde charges the Gargoyles to remove them, and will victoriously change facing to get things into their front arc.
The Phoenixes on the right spray into the Stealthy Succubi, but land 6 damage, which is enough to get a Waver against them.
 |
| Post-combat on the right. |
The Penitents opt to leave the hill, and will secure and burn a token.
The Bowmen take the center, taking another movement penalty to shoot into the Imps again, but landing a damage and will rout them this turn.The Arbalest that moved last turn looks to have shot into the Stealthy Succubi, landing 2 damage.
The nearby Penitent Regiment charges the Pathfinding Succubi, but Ensnare is too much, and no damage connects.
Out on the right, the Penitents counter-charge the Chroneas, and bring her to 12 damage, but fail to rout her off. This countercharge pops the Tortured Souls and the Fiend out of this combat. The Siege Artillery and Arbalest hit strong, and deal 9 damage to the towering Fiend, who is wavered.
 |
The mounted Exemplar Hunter charges the Gargoyles to protect the Siege Artillery, deals 4 and secures a waver here as well.
The Phoenix hops the line to grab and burn a token, making this 2-0 in favor of the Brothermark.
Bottom of Round 3: Abyssals
On the right, the Tortured Souls were hit buy Augustus, but have a front charge into the Phoenix. They take that to disorder the bird, and Augustus should be popped free. He's tough, but I choose to send the Chroneas in against him, which results in a bit of a jam.
 |
| A messy series of charges. |
Augustus has taken one point from Cloak of Death, and the Warlock is able to sneak 1 damage in with Drain Life, healing the Succubi to 5. The Chroneas deals a fresh 4 in combat, brining the High Chaplain to 7, but I am unable to get the rout. Temporal Ruptures will heal the Succubi from 5 down to 2 damage.
The Tortured Souls disorder the Bird, but I don't track damage in my notes since it kept healing to full.
 |
| Charges and movement over on the right. |
The Abyssal Ghouls pivot strongly and move to threaten the nearby Penitent regiment. The wavering Succubi look to pivot, I think to better accommodate the Lower Abyssals in the charge into the Penitent horde. The Lower Abyssals deal just 9 damage (13-14 expected), but we do get the Waver against the Penitents.
Between the Lower Abyssals and the Succubi, I wrest control of this token, and burn it.
Over on the right, the wavering Gargoyles do nothing. The Tortured Souls and Chroneas go into the Penitent Horde again, and will deal enough to pick them up. The Chroneas will pivot towards the mounted hero, and the Tortured Souls will overrun well enough to threaten the Siege Artillery next turn. Temporal Ruptures from the Chroneas will heal the Fiend for 3, taking him down to 6 damage.
 |
| Charges and movement on the left. |
The Pathfinding Succubi countercharge the upstart Penitents, with the Warlock arriving to contribute a strong 5 damage. Unfortunately, only the stock Succubi can benefit from the spell, but still, they are healed to full, and won't be wavering next turn. The victorious Pathfing Succubi will overrun, looking to threaten the central Arbalest next turn.
We find that I am controlling my two tokens on the right, and burn them too, making this 3-2 in favor of the Abyssals.
Top of Round 4: Brothermark
Out on the left, the war machines converge on the Fiend, landing 8 damage, bringing him to 14, and securing the rout. The Phoenix will shoot at the Gargoyles, and rout them as well.
 |
| "Yeah, shooting at this guy right here." |
The Exemplar Hunter charges the Chroneas, and is able to best her. With the Fiend falling in the shooting phase, it doesn't take much to pick her up too.
 |
| Aftermath on the left. |
The Bowmen change facing and move to get out of charge range of the Succubi. The Penitent horde disengages from the Lower Abyssals, allowing the Bowmen to shoot into them, landing 5 damage.
Both Siege Artillery will shoot at something, but I don't know what. The Phoenix is blocking line of sight to the Chroneas, so I think they shoot at the Lower Abyssal Horde; some of the damage may have come from them.
It's messy, but we think Augustus can see the Tortured Souls still, and will individual about to get into them again, but this will pop the Chroneas free.
 |
| Aftermath on the right. |
The Penitent regiment turns to face the Abyssal Ghouls pursuing them, and the Phoenix flies up to seize and burn this token, making it 3:3.
Bottom of Round 4: Abyssals
Losing the Chroneas and Fiend is rough, but both were injured. I still have some healthy units here though. The Tortured Souls charge the Siege Artillery and pick it up, spinning to face the center; the Succubi make a hindered charge but to the same to the Arbalest in the field, and the Pathfinding Succubi charge the Arbalest in the woods to leap-frog their way to get within striking distance of the Bowmen in the center, since that is what we are fighting over now.
 |
| Three charges into three war machines. |
The Warlock opts to flee, making his way towards the center as well.
On the right, the Chroneas is free, and charges in with the Lower Abyssals against the Penitent horde, picking them up this turn. I don't make any regeneration rolls, but Temporal Ruptures heals the Abyssals from 5 down to 2, and the Chroneas rolls strong to overrun, while the Lower Abyssals roll 1, and should be just out of charge range next turn, unfortunately.The Ghouls fight the Penitents, landing 3 damage.
 |
| Charges for the Abyssals. |
Keeping on the far right, the Warlock casts a Drain Life into Augustus, landing a few damage and picking him up with some great Nerve rolls. I think the healing effect goes to the Tortured Souls, and I think I forget about their Lifeleech again when they go back into the Phoenix.
 |
| Aftermath for the Abyssals. |
The Succubi make a hindered charge into the Arbalest nearby, and will pick that up, and then overrun to try to fight the two remaining Siege Artillery pieces as the game concludes. With the obstacle here, I don't think I can get them to the center as the game concludes. With just the Warlocks, I am down to two sources of Inspiring, so I think it is best to try to silence the war machines to prevent spikey dice hitting my units in the late game. I think they overrun 1" as well, not even getting free of the Obstacle.
Top of Round 5: Brothermark
The Brothermark holds the center with an untouched horde of Bowmen, so their goal is to slow the Abyssals down as I try to race towards the center.
The Penitents strike back into the Ghouls, dealing 5. The unit is uninspired, but holds.
 |
| Positioning around the center, and a newly maimed Chroneas. |
The Bowmen change facing, and are able to get the Succubi into their front. Neither the Lower Abyssals or the Chroneas is close enough to get in next turn. The Examplar Paladin tucks in to support the Bowmen.
The remaining Siege Artillery land 8 damage into the healthy Chroneas, but fail to break her.
 |
| The right way to engage Succubi! |
Over on the left, the Phoenix, Chaplain and Exemplar make a triple charge into the flank of the uninspired Succubi. They take 8 damage, but hold.
Bottom of Round 5: Abyssals
It's a battle for the center. Not everything can make it, but most things can still contribute to the general effort.
 |
| Fighting out on the right. |
Over on the right, the Tortured Souls go into the Phoenix again to ground it, and the Succubi goes into the war machine to remove it. Just one Siege Artillery piece remains...
I think the Warlock shoots with cover from the Phoenix into the final Siege Artillery, but isn't able to remove it.
It's a jumble out on the right with the other Succubi and their trio of suitors. As we understand it, I get to pick which unit to counter-charge. Having counter-charged, the other units are nudged free, and should be nudged the same distance away. On an overrun, I'd bump into both units at the same time, and we think I'd get to pick which unit to overrun into. Being in the field, the second combat would be hindered, but potentially, we think the Succubi could kill both characters and then hit the Phoenix.
 |
| Starting positions in the bottom of 5. |
The Succubi opt to charge the wounded Chaplain, best him, and then overrun. I choose to play it safe and go for the Phoenix, in order to disorder and ground it, for the scenario.
 |
| Combats in the bottom of Round 5. |
In the center, the Warlock moves up, and casts Drain Life for 4 into the Bowmen, healing the maimed Chroneas. The monster needs to pivot and move to face the center for Round 6, and does so, and just barely has a charge into the Bowmen.
The Succubi in the woods have Pathfinder, and make a charge into the Bowmen contributing a pitiful 4 damage. The Bowmen are disordered, but hold.
 |
| Positioning at the bottom of Round 5. |
The Lower Abyssals moves up, threatening a charge into the Bowmen next turn as well.
The Abyssal Ghouls land a few more into the Penitents and waver them.
Top of Round 6: Brothermark
The Bowmen disengage and withdraw from the Succubi, gaining an inch. They then move back their speed, and get 12.5 inches away from the Chroneas, avoiding a charge from her.
The Exemplar Hunter can see the taller Warlock, and charges out to disorder him, landing the requisite 1 damage.
 |
| The Brothermark move to block things up. |
The remaining Siege Artillery lands a fresh 3 into the Chroneas, but she holds.
The disordered Phoeninx on the left disengages from the Succubi on the left, looking to help in a possible Round 7 and moving towards the center. The more central Phoenix blocks up the Lower Abyssals, preventing a charge from them into the Bowmen, but exposing their rear to the horde as they shoot into the Succubi, landing 4 damage.
The last Phoenix tussles more with the Tortured Souls.
The wavered Penitents do nothing against the Ghouls.
 |
| The Exemplar makes the Succubi think twice. |
Out on the left, the Exemplar fights on, landing 1 more damage on the Succubi despite their Ensnare, and securing a Waver against them.
Bottom of Round 6: Abyssals
The wavering Succubi have Fury, and will countercharge the Exemplar, and injure him but don't remove him.
The Tortured Souls will rear-charge the Phoenix, and remove it.
 |
| Combats at the end of the game. |
Over on the right, the Tortured Souls will attack the Phoenix, with the Warlock in the titan's flank, but won't remove the bird.
The Succubi slay the last Siege Artillery piece out on the right as well.
 |
| More of the final combats. |
The Abyssal Ghouls charge the Penitents a third time, and finish them off.
The Lower Abyssal Horde rear charges the other Phoenix, and will devastate and then rout it, as is proper.
The Chroneas can's make it into the Bowmen, so vents her frustration out on the Examplar Paladin on foot. The Warlock joins in, and the hero is slain.
I probably should have withdrawn with the Warlock and charged the Bowmen, but I either didn't see it at the time, or didn't have the inches or something. Doing so would have contributed some damage towards the rout... but even just his presence and his 1 additional Unit Strength would have tipped that into my favor for the win. That's an error on my part for sure.
 |
| Positioning at the end of the game. |
So, it all comes down to the pathfinding Succubi. They charge in again, deal a still underwhelming 6, to bring them to 14 damage, and just even money to rout. Thankfully, I do get the rout here, and do steal a victory!
Game Conclusions
I knew a bit of what was coming, but we both figured the initial game would be favored towards the Brothermark, so we were both surprised by the result here.
The Penitent hordes proved to be a bit unwieldy at times, and they all ate some multi-charges as the game went on. I didn't tech hard into CS, but the still damage accrued quickly and Trevor wasn't able to heal the Penitents up as much as he thought he'd be able to. While the war machines started strong and were able to spike some dice throughout the game, they were not consistent with their damage output, and only half of my things taller than Height 3 were routed by the end of the game.
The Succubi are an odd pick generally, but had some really good luck here. Math-wise, even without CS, with just their volume of basic attacks they should outperform my normal Abyssal Guard with two-handers against stuff like the Penitents, which was intriguing. Only about 8-9 damage should be expected here, but that is enough to get them to a bit better than even money to rout a regiment. It's not a sure thing, but they do appear to have a bit of a niche against lower defense units, and with some warm roller here, they really did work against the backbone of the Brothermark list.
Testing Conclusions
- Lower Abyssals with CS and Brew of Sharpness. Well, Data and Dice posited that CS Lower Abyssals were a good buy. The Brew makes them a more significant threat, put really put over the top in this matchup, since they were wounding on 2’s against everything.
- Succubi with Lurker (Pathfinder). Pathfinder actually made a difference in most of that unit’s combats. It’s a steep cost, but did seem worth it in these instances, since the unit was able to go from combat to combat quickly and not be bogged down by hindered charges.
- Succubi without Lurker (Pathfinder). Plain Succubi actually worked well too, though running the math my dice were a little on the hot side in most of these combats… until they met the Bowmen.
- Gargoyles. Height 2 prevented any crazy blocking charges. They moved to block blocked, drew some fire and died. I think they did fine here as chaff.
- Abyssal Ghouls. I wasn't quite sure what to do with them, but beating up and blocking a Penitent regiment is probably the best they could hope for, so I think they did fine.
- Imps. Hiding seemed like a good idea, but the Bowmen had their number. Still, it was a cheap unit that drew fire, so good on them.
- Chroneas. The opposing War Machines were still War Machines, and swingy. Neither Chroneas was focused down early, which let them get in and do work.
- Abyssal Fiend. My opponent is most familiar with the Fiends for my supporting units. Being Height 6, I couldn’t really escape, and he prioritized taking them out, and did so. Removing the Inspiring Titans definitely hurt as the game went on. We figured it was going to be a rough match-up for them, and that’s indeed how it shook out for them.
- Abyssal Warlock. Go figure, but Drain Life with Piercing 1 is more effective that Drain Life without it! The damage wasn’t consistent, but even just a few damage swings here and there definitely helped out, and picking up Augustus was a very welcome surprise!
A big thank you to my opponent for hosting and fitting these games in for me. Our second test game exploring this playstyle for the Brothermark should be up soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment